Content
by Kelsey
Summary: A short vignette from Piper's POV, just post-Cole's betrayal and the discovery of Piper's evolving powers.


****

Content

by

[Princess McPhee][1]

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed. I have no clue who does, though.

Author's Note: Though I am the author of over fifty stories, this is my first Charmed fic, so please be gentle!

Summary: After the eventful day in which Piper discovers her new power, and Cole betrays everyone, the young witch thinks. Piper POV.

Rating: PG

> The day is finally over. It's still sinking in. So much happened, and yet, almost an ordinary day for a bunch of witches, a demon and a White Lighter. We all skirted death once more.
> 
> But that's not what's so frightening to me, actually. It's this new power that scares me skinless. It's not that I don't like the idea of having my powers evolve, but they're so crazily out of control. I almost really hurt Prue today, and to be honest, I wasn't much help in either of the fights I happened to be in the middle of. Except for that weird guy in the living room.
> 
> But even him, though he was destroyed, didn't go the way I wanted him too. And to have something under your skin... something that you have little control over, yet are responsible for... I meant it when I told Phoebe and Prue that understood what Cole was going through.
> 
> Leo though, has been incredibly sweet. I can't believe he went out and got that passport, I know he thinks it's ridiculous to want to act normal when it's so patently obvious that we're not. But he did for me, and that's almost sweeter than the fact that he actually did it.
> 
> I kind of wonder if he's afraid of flying, what with all the fuss he put up. Wouldn't that be funny. The brave White Lighter who can disappear on a whim, doesn't want to go up in the air on a safe little airplane. That's teasing material for about a thousand days.
> 
> I wish our marriage had been a little more... ordinary. But we're the Charmed Ones, and so that's not a likely happening. We'll make the best of what we've got. 
> 
> On a different note, I feel so sorry for Phoebe. She truly loved Cole, maybe still does, but now she has realized she can't. Also, it's always devastating to have someone betray you. It must be thousands of times harder for her, since she knew him and loved him, and trusted him.
> 
> And to some extent, Prue and I did, too. I mean, towards the end, I truly believed that he couldn't be completely evil. 
> 
> I'm still not sure if I do.
> 
> But I know this. In the end, Balthazar was stronger, and Cole, whether he was fighting or had by then realized that he could do nothing else, was forced to kill that other witch. And I have no doubt that he was forced. But it's a thin line between Cole and Balthazar, for they're so different, and yet both the same.
> 
> They share the same skin.
> 
> But they don't share the same heart.
> 
> I'm lying here, in Leo's arms. He's snoring a little, just funny little snorts out of his nose, that weird little way that people do sometimes. It's so adorable, though I'd never tell him. I don't know why. Despite his manly, heroic job, he's still got a soft side. He wouldn't mind that I thought it was cute.
> 
> I guess it's just something that I want only for me. Sounds funny, I guess, since I can't really be jealous of Leo's own actions vying for attention... wait, that made absolutely no sense.
> 
> Anyway, I still won't tell him.
> 
> I can't sleep. I know I'm not the only one in this predicament, Phoebe's been pacing downstairs for hours. Prue's asleep, I think, but of all of us, she's had the least baggage recently. No traumatic near-death experiences, or at least no closer than usual, no huge fights with weird beings over my right to marry Leo, no nothing.
> 
> And no demon/man trying to win her heart, who then betrays her.
> 
> It's strange. A lot's happened to me this year, yet I'm not too badly screwed up. I mean, some days suck, and some days I fly on the clouds, but overall, I'm happy. And even when I'm not, I usually reach 'satisfied'. It probably has something to do with being a newlywed, though, as well as the usual stuff.
> 
> Everywhere I go, nobody knows me. At my high school reunion, before I got soul-snatched by that demon somebody, anyway, not a single person recognized me when they saw my name. A couple of people had face-recognition, but nobody hooked the name with the face. That's how sad my social life was. 
> 
> "Piper Halliwell? Who's that?" was all I heard that entire night.
> 
> But it's over. And though I'm not done being traumatized by it, there are more important things to do with my life. Like worry about getting Phoebe through this time, and worry about what we're going to do if Cole comes back, and how I'm ever going to have an argument with anybody without worrying about blowing them up.
> 
> Especially somebody I know. It would be really sad to blow up your sister, or your husband. Even if Prue did kill me once. I guess I can't blame her much, considering, though.
> 
> I snuggle into the covers, and Leo rolls over, throwing an arm around me. I smile, and curl myself together under it. He wakes up enough to kiss my cheek and flash me a sleepy smile, and then he's under again, and I'm yawning.
> 
> Maybe it's time to go to bed.

   [1]: mailto:teneljade@netzero.net



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